Meeting documents

Councillor E.Schofield declared an interest in respect of any item of business on the Agenda which might relate to the employment of his grandson who is employed in the Highways and Transportation Department. He also declared an interest with regard to Para 4.5 of the Treasury Management report (Graigwen, Amlwch) and was not present at the meeting during any discussion or voting thereon.  

Councillor G.O. Parry MBE declared an interest in respect of any item of business on the Agenda which might relate to the employment of his daughters within the Finance Department.

Councillor O. Glyn Jones declared an interest with regard to any item of business on the Agenda which might relate to the employment of his wife and daughter within the Housing and Social Services Department.  

Councillor R.Ll. Hughes declared an interest in respect of any item of business on the Agenda which might relate to the employment of his son in the Highways Department.

Councillor P. J. Dunning declared an interest in respect of any item of business on the agenda which might relate to the employment of his wife in the Education Authority.  

Councillors W. J. Chorlton, E. G. Davies, P. M. Fowlie, A. Morris Jones, J. Arthur Jones, O. Glyn Jones, R. L. Owen and W. J. Williams, MBE declared an interest in Item 11 of these minutes and were not present at the meeting during any discussion or voting thereon. (The Vice-Chair took the Chair for this item).

Councillor Eric Jones declared an interest in any matter that might arise with regard to the Council’s residential homes.  

Councillor R. Ll. Jones declared an interest in respect of any item of business on the agenda which might relate to the employment of his daughter in the Education Authority.  

Councillor Fflur. M. Hughes declared an interest with regard to any item of business on the Agenda which might relate to the employment of her son within the Education Department.

Councillor C. Ll. Everett declared an interest in respect of any item of business on the Agenda which might relate to the employment of his daughter in the Human Resources Department.

Councillor A.M. Jones declared an interest with regard to any item of business which might relate to the employment of his brother in the Education and Leisure Department.

Councillor G. W. Roberts OBE declared an interest in respect of any item of business which might relate to the employment of his daughter in the Environmental Services Section. He also declared an interest with regard to Para 4:5 of the Treasury Management report (Graigwen, Amlwch) and was not present at the meeting during any discussion or voting thereon.

2

TO RECEIVE ANY ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM THE CHAIRPERSON, LEADER, MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE OR THE HEAD OF PAID SERVICES

The Chair on behalf of Members and Officers expressed his condolences to Councillor H. Eifion Jones and family upon the loss of his mother.

He also sympathised with any other Member or member of staff who had suffered a bereavement. Members and Officers stood in silent tribute as a mark of their respect.

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The Chair extended his congratulations to Aled Myrddin, whose family lived in Menai Bridge who won Cân i Gymru 2008 recently.

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The Managing Director paid tribute to the Council’s Children’s Services who had been praised in the Excellence Wales Awards Ceremony at Cardiff last week. Excellence Wales was a scheme run annually by the WLGA and Anglesey had received the award for its citizenship work with children and young people.

He also congratulated Anglesey Health Alliance upon being presented with an award at the Fire Service’s Community Safety Awards Ceremony for the ‘Sloppy Slippers’ Campaign at Llandudno. The aim of the Campaign was to reduce the number of accidents and falls in the home by exchanging old slippers for new ones. This Council led the Alliance’s work in this respect and Huw Thomas, Principal Environmental Health Officer and Brian Jones, Older People Strategy Co-ordinator accepted the award on behalf of the Council.  

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On behalf of the Chair, Councillor R. Ll. Hughes, took the opportunity of paying tribute to the work ethic of Mr. Morgan Evans, Auctioneer and Estate Agent who had recently been awarded the MBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours List.

Councillor Fflur. M. Hughes on behalf of the members of staff of the Planning Service expressed her appreciation to the Corporate Director (Environment & Technical Services) for replying to the statement made in the Holyhead and Anglesey Mail by an elected member of this Council with regard to the Scrutiny of Planning Decisions Panel whose aim was to examine and scrutinise the action and decision of Planning Officers when determining planning decisions / appeals.

She stated that the Planning Services staff could carry their heads high and that the majority of Members supported them.

3

RELATIONSHIP MANAGER’S ANNUAL LETTER 2006/07

The Chair extended a warm welcome to those representatives of the Welsh Audit Office and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Reported - That the Annual Letter set out the key messages from work undertaken over the last twelve months up to the point when it was written by:

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the Appointed Auditor under the Code of Audit and Inspection Practice (the Code); and

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the Relationship Manager on behalf of the Auditor General for Wales (the Auditor General) under the studies and inspection powers of the Auditor General.

The Annual Letter included a summary of audit and inspection work and reported progress against improvement actions. It drew on published reports of other inspectorates to provide an annual summary of the Council. The work planned for the year was set out in the Regulatory Plan 2006/2007 and more detail on the specific aspects of the work undertaken could be found in the separate reports that had been issued during the year.

From the performance audit and inspection work, the Auditor General and the Appointed Auditor had concluded that the Council had adequate performance management arrangements. The Council had arrangements in 2006/2007 to help it achieve economy, efficiency and effectiveness in its use of resources, however there was a scope to improve the medium term financial planning of the Council.

An ESTYN inspection of access and school organisation rated the Council’s performance as having ‘good features outweighing shortcomings’ and its prospects for improving performance as ‘good with no major barriers’.

The Appointed Auditor recommended no statutory inspections this year. However, the Appointed Auditor and the Auditor General remained concerned about the impact of member conflict on the ability of the Council to fulfil the general duty under section 3(1) of the 1999 Act: ‘To make arrangements to secure continuous improvement in the way in which its functions are exercised, having regard to combination of economy, efficiency and effectiveness.’ Whilst they did not consider a statutory inspection was justified at this stage, they would continue to monitor the Council’s progress in addressing this issue closely.  

Members were then given a question and answer period on the contents of the report. Matters raised were:-

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member conflict

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rationalisation of schools

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smallholdings estate

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compliance with waste disposal targets

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performance management

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informal meetings of the Executive

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the good review received following the Joint Review of Social Services

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the levels of investment in Information and Communications Technology

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comparison of audit and inspection fees with other local authorities

The Chair thanked Mr. Alan Morris and Mr. Gareth Jones for their presentation and their response to the questions received.     

4

MINUTES

Submitted and confirmed as a true record, the minutes of the meeting of the County Council held on 13th December, 2007.

5

BUDGET, COUNCIL TAX, TREASURY MANAGEMENT AND PRUDENTIAL                INDICATORS 2008/09

5.1 EXECUTIVE'S FINAL BUDGET PROPOSALS 2008-09

Reported by the Portfolio Holder (Finance) - That the Executive had completed its final budget proposals. The report to this Council referred to the following matters:-

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The proposed revenue budget for 2008-09 - Table A

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The proposed Capital budget for 2008-09 with commitments and indicative items for the period of the capital plan - Table B.

Council Tax

The Executive proposed an increase of 1.5% in the Band D Council Tax. This would take the Band D figure to £766.80. The Police Authority decided on 15 February on an increase of 4.5% in its precept. The total paid by Council taxpayers would rise by a little over 2%, depending on the precept of their Town or Community Council. The proposed increase was the lowest for ten years.

Revenue Budget

The revenue budget took account of the final local government settlement, in which extra “floor” funding of 2% had been won from the Welsh Assembly Government.  The savings in schools budgets had been limited to 0.3% and an increased contingency had been set aside for employment costs.

Capital Plan and Budget

The capital plan and budget proposals took account of the Prudential Code. The capital plan (narrative attached as Appendix) rolled forward the plan adopted in 2007-08, confirming the priority given to waste obligations, leisure and regeneration. It included making a start on Leisure Centre improvements, and a programme to upgrade Residential Care Homes.

Formal Matters

As required by the Budget Procedure Rules the following matters needed to be drawn to the attention of the County Council prior to them deciding upon the final budget proposals:-

(1)      The Council had not adopted a budget strategy;

(2)      The proposed Council Tax for the year was £766.80 (Band D), an increase of 1.5%.

(3)     A one-off contribution of £200,000 to be made to the Leisure Improvements Reserve towards the aim of inviting the Island Games to Anglesey in 2015.  Any staff severance costs in schools would be met from Education service reserves.

(4)      A summary of proposed expenditure by service was given in Table A for the revenue budget and by scheme in Table B for the capital budget.

(5)      The Executive's proposals included :-

-     1% savings across most budgets, totalling £1.2m;

-     a package of corporate savings totalling £0.6m;

Provision had been made for initial costs of collaboration on the North Wales Residual Waste Treatment project.

(6)      The Executive had taken account the views of Scrutiny and Overview Committees reported to it at its meeting of 11 February, 2008.

(7)     The Executive had taken account of responses of external consultees reported to it at its meeting of 11 February, 2008.

(8)      The main differences between the initial and final proposals of the Executive were that proposed savings to schools budget had been reduced from 1% to 0.3%, and that the employment costs contingency for local government staff had been increased to 2% of the paybill.

(9)      The Executive would propose to the Council that it should be given delegated powers to spend budgets and granted powers to vire budgets, as in previous years, as follows:

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powers to spend each budget heading in Tables A and B on the particular objective, service or project to which it relates;

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a limit of nil on virement between budget headings in Table A;

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powers to vire from the central contingency, from the Performance Incentive Grant contingency, or from new or increased sources of income;

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powers to vire from the balance of Local Authority Business Growth Incentive Scheme money towards dealing with Health and Safety and Fire risk assessments;

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powers to vire from the leisure improvements reserve in support of proposals which enhance the leisure service's assets and strategic sporting facilities.  The Executive has not, and does not intend to, delegate any part of this virement power to officers.

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powers to transfer budgets between capital projects in Table B and to commit resources in following years within the amounts indicated in the Capital Plan and consistent with the budget framework.

(10)   The proposals for borrowing and investment were as detailed in the separate report by the Corporate Director- Finance on Treasury Management which had been approved by the Executive.

(11)  Other statutory matters were dealt with in the report by the Corporate Director - Finance.

In summing up, the Portfolio Holder, expressed his appreciation to the former Portfolio Holder Councillor John Roberts, his fellow members of the Executive and the Finance Panel for their contribution. He also thanked the Corporate Director (Finance) and his staff for their much valued work in drawing up the Council budget for 2008/09 and to the Council Departments for reaching those targets. He proposed that the Council accept the budget (Items 5.1 - 5.3 of the report to the Council).

Councillor G. O. Parry, MBE referred members to Para 4.5 of the Treasury Management report (Graigwen, Amlwch) in that this item had not been ratified at the September meeting of the Council as an audit inquiry was on-going. This item could be approved today as legitimate expenditure. However, in the Monitoring’s Officers report at the time, the words ‘unlawful and illegal’ were included. Since the inquiry had not been concluded it would be wrong for the Council to approve this item, it would appear to be unlawful to do so and with serious consequences for members to ratify this at this stage.

The original suggestion was that the expenditure would be self-financing, no evidence had been provided to support that proposal. There were members and officers in the Chamber that had participated in the decision taken by the Executive and he felt that they should consider their involvement in discussion today. He proposed that the item be withdrawn and that if a vote was necessary it should be by means of recorded vote.

The Corporate Director (Finance) in reply stated that the Council was required when adopting its annual budget to confirm the strategy to control borrowings. Without a strategy the Council could not move ahead with the regard to control of capital expenditure, borrowings and investments. The report referred to this purchase, as it was factual. He asked the Council to approve the report as a factual record as it was part of the expected arrangements in adopting a budget.

Councillor G. O. Parry, MBE requested legal guidance in this respect and what would be the implications for members of this Council as regards possible surcharge should the report be ratified today?

The Director of Legal Services / Monitoring Officer in reply stated that there was no risk of surcharge to members of the Council. It was the Executive’s decision, it was they who ratified it, so there was no responsibility on other members of the Council. As the Director of Finance had stated this was no more than a recognition of an historical fact.

Councillor A. M. Jones enquired of the Portfolio Holder if the Executive intended to support those community halls connected to schools in next year’s budget? Councillor H. Eifion Jones in reply stated that he would provide Councillor Jones with a written reply in this respect.  

5.2 BUDGET 2008-09 - ADOPTION OF FORMAL RESOLUTION

Reported by the Corporate Director (Finance) - That in order to adopt its budget for the year 2008-09 and to determine the level of Council Tax for the year, the County Council was required to adopt a formal resolution which dealt in some detail with all connected matters.

As it considered the Executive’s proposed budget, the Council should also consider and take account of this report from the Corporate Director - Finance. This dealt with matters required under the Local Government Act 2003 (“the Act”) and the Prudential Code for Capital Finance in Local Authorities (“the Prudential Code”).

Robustness of Estimates

The Corporate Director was required under section 25 (1) (a) of the Act to report to the Council on the robustness of estimates made in the course of drawing up the budget.

It was necessarily always the case that uncertainty about future events affecting the budget meant that estimates needed to be made, which in turn rested on certain assumptions about what was likely to happen. The most significant uncertainties affecting the budget as proposed by the Executive, and the way they had been dealt with, were :-

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Employment Costs

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Interest Rates

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Demand-Led Budgets

Having regard to the foregoing, the Corporate Director was satisfied that the proposed budget was robustly estimated.

Adequacy of Financial Reserves

The Corporate Director was required under section 25 (1) (b) of the Act to report to the Council on the adequacy of the proposed financial reserves.

He had reviewed the level of reserves following an approach reported to the Executive as part of the budget preparation process.

Earmarked reserves had been established to cover known plans, commitments or risks, and in reviewing the present level of reserves he had assumed that commitments would be met, plans would normally be implemented, and risks required a level of provision commensurate with their amount and likelihood.

General revenue balances were currently projected to be £6.1m at 31 March 2008. This was more than the sum considered adequate. In his report to the Executive on 8 November 2007, he contemplated the possibility that the use of reserves would be necessary to cope with a difficult settlement for 2008-09. However the floor funding announced in the final settlement was a one-off reprieve such that the use of reserves was not required in 2008-09. The medium term strategy outlined to the Executive in February 2008 now envisaged that 2009-10 would be the most difficult year when drawing on reserves may be required.

Having regard to the above he was satisfied that the Executive’s proposed budget would leave the Council with adequate financial reserves.

The Prudential Code

The legislative framework introduced by the Local Government Act 2003 required the Council to have regard to The Prudential Code for Capital Finance in Local Authorities.  The Executive had already affirmed this.

The primary requirements of the Prudential Code were that authorities should have regard to affordability and prudence.

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Affordability

The Executive's budget proposals had regard to affordability. As always, the capital budget was financed by a combination of external grants, capital receipts, revenue funds and borrowing. Anticipated funding from grants was linked to what was approved or realistically achievable; some spending proposals were to be included in the capital budget but subject to confirmation of grants: if the grants were not confirmed, the schemes would fall. Capital receipts were based on sales made or in progress; amounts expected but not yet confirmed as definite had been discounted, with any surplus or shortfall being carried forward to future years' budgets. Revenue funding was in place, consistent with the revenue budget.

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Unsupported Borrowing

The Treasury Management report dealt with the circumstances in which unsupported borrowing was used. The Housing Stock Business Plan envisaged use of £14m unsupported borrowing, beyond the period of the three-year Capital Plan.    

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Prudence

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The Prudential Code    

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Treasury Management and Investment Strategies    

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Borrowing Limits and Prudential Indicators

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Debt Charges Budget

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Effect of Amended Regulations of New Statutory Guidance

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To confirm the limits shown at Appendix A of the report for the purposes of the Prudential Code and of Section 3.1 of the Local Government Act 2003 from 1 April, 2008.

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To approve the Treasury Management Strategy and the related Investment Strategy for 2008/09.

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That the debt charges and interests receivable elements of the revenue budget be noted.

a)     Pursuant to the recommendations of the Executive Committee to adopt a revenue budget for 2008/09 as shown in the table at Table A attached.

b)     Pursuant to the recommendations of the Executive Committee to adopt a three year capital plan as shown at Table C.

ch)     To delegate to the Executive Committee for the financial year 2008/09 the powers to transfer budgets between headings as follows:

     i)     unlimited powers to spend each budget heading in Table A on the particular objective, service or project to which it relates;

     ii)     a limit of nil on  virement between budget headings in Table A;

     iii)     unlimited powers to vire from the central contingency, from the Performance Incentive Grant contingency, or from other new or increased sources of income;

     iv)     powers to vire from the balance of Local Authority Business Growth Incentive Scheme money towards dealing with Health and Safety and Fire risk assessments;

     v)     powers to vire from the leisure improvements reserve in support of proposals which enhance the leisure service's assets and strategic sporting facilities.  

     vi)     powers to transfer budgets between capital projects in Table B and to commit resources in following years within the amounts indicated in the Capital Plan at Table C and consistent with the budget framework.

d)     To confirm that items a to ch become part of the Council's budget framework.

a)

29,418.92 being the amount calculated by the Executive, in accordance with regulation 3 of the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) (Wales)  Regulations 1995, as its council tax base for the year.

b)

Part of the Council's area:

being the amounts calculated by the Council, in accordance with regulation 6 of the Regulations, as the amounts of its council tax base for the year for dwellings in those parts of its area to which one or more special items relate.

a)

£169,565,362.95     being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 32(2)(a) to (d) of the Act.

b)

£  54,974,108.00     being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section  32(3)(a) and (c) of the Act.

c)

£114,591,254.95     being the amount by which the aggregate at 7(a) above exceeds the aggregate at 7(b) above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 32(4) of the Act, as its budget requirement for the year.

ch)

£  91,249,162.00     being the aggregate of the sums which the Council estimates will be payable for the year into its council fund in respect of redistributed non-domestic rates and revenue support grant reduced by any amount calculated in accordance with Section 33(3B) of the Act.

d)

£            793.44     being the amount at 7(c) above less the amount at 7(ch) above, all divided by the amount at 6(a) above, calculated by the Executive, in accordance with Section 33(1) of the Act, as the basic amount of its council tax for the year.

dd)

£      783,664.95     being the aggregate amount of all special items referred to in Section 34(1) of the Act.

e)

£            766.80     being the amount at 7(d) above less the result given by dividing the amount at 7(dd) above by the amount at 6(a) above, calculated by the Executive, in accordance with Section 34(2) of the Act, as the basic amount of its council tax for the year for dwellings in those parts of its area to which no special item relates.

f)

Part of the Council's area

being the amount given by adding to the amount at 7(e) above the amounts of the special item or items relating to dwellings in those parts of the Council's area mentioned above divided in each case by the amount at 6(b) above, calculated by the Executive, in accordance with Section 34(3) of the Act, as the basic amounts of its council tax for the year for dwellings in those parts of its area to which one of more special items relate.